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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Prelude to a season
Remember Thursday, June 20. Mark it on your calendar as the day the season of Winnipeg summertime crime began.
In the 24 hours between Midnight Thursday and 11:59 p.m, on what could only be described as a beautiful -perfect even- day in the city, weather-wise, police, paramedics and firemen (along with other agencies) had their hands full.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a ton of gang-related violence, with the odd twist that it seemed to involve gangs turning on each other.One needs only to look at the brutality demonstrated by three thugs in a West Side gang - called the Garden Hill Krazies - to get a sense of how nasty it gets out there in gang-land.Not only did three of them brutally and repeatedly punch and kick a fellow member just over half the age of his oldest attacker, but they dragged him out of his own house and tossed him in a dumpster, ostensibly leaving him to die there. Police say he was lucky to have been found by a passer-by when he was, otherwise he quite likely would have become Winnipeg's 19th homicide.Later in the day, the Manitoba Warriors escalate a power-struggle for control of the gang's leadership by shooting up the house belonging to one of its members. Nearby was the guy trying to assert his dominance over the gang. Thirty bullets were sprayed at the Dorothy St. home, a clear warning that that his leadership bid would be contested. The Warriors, as always, mean business and other gangs mess with them at their peril. The same rule applies, one imagines, for intra-gang business.The following primer is taken from Inside Prison, an Online database/web forum dealing with North American institutions.
MW were allegedly formed in 1992. According to First Nations Drum (Winter 2000), prospects "must serve an apprenticeship, called "striking," just as in bike gang culture." Winnipeg's gang unit database had 327 active and 143 inactive, almost all adults, in 2000.They have traditionally been at war with the Hell's Angels over Winnipeg's drug distribution network, which has resulted in the recent death of three biker-gang members.They have been identified by blue bandannas with a blue vest and patch on the back.As a prison gang, the Manitoba Warriors have been reported primarily in Edmonton Institution, Headingley Correctional Institution, Stony Mountain Institution.Thursday's violence comes soon after last week's news that the IP are going after their own:An Indian Posse guy was shot twice in the back in the middle of the night on Jun 9 by a high-level member of his own gang for murmuring about wanting to leave gang life behind.
A Canada-wide attempted murder warrant has been issued for Justin Cory Meeches in connection to the shooting. Meeches was one of 10 IP members charged and convicted in the prison beating of Brad Maytwayashing four years ago.He's barred from ever owning or possessing weapons by court-order. He's considered armed and dangerous.His long-time allegiance to the IP is best shown by the body-art he wears. Here's two examples from his Facebook page.
On his right arm in the second picture, you can make out the Posse's colours. Note the 'smoking gun' motif throughout.
At the same time, the RCMP are still trying to figure out what happened to Dwayne Prince, another of the 10 co-accused IP gangsters in the Maytwayashing beating. Prince turned up dead in a ditch near Bird's Hill Park in April, only a few days after being released from Stony Mountain. You can read more about this curious story through Mike McIntyre's coverage of it.Police refuse to say how Prince died as it forms part of the case against whomever killed him. It is being treated as a homicide.Investigators have twice issued a public plea for help solving the case. Anyone who has information is requested to contact (204) 984-6447 or Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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